For more My World posts click on this logo. Thanks to Klaus and the others who host! My World post is from Angel Mounds located in Newburgh, Indiana.
Angel Mounds is named for the family who farmed the land for years before it became a historic site. This 100 acre site is one of the best preserved precontact Native American sites.The Middle Mississippian Indians occupied the site from AD 1000 to 1400.
This was a large fortified village borderd on one side by the Ohio River, with bottom land for farming. There is evidence of at least 200 structures in this town over the years, but maybe not all at once. At its peak the population may have been 1000.
This mural is in the interpretive center....
....along with pottery and other things that have been found.
There are also displays of reconstructed huts and walls and other information.
Outside the field that houses the site is mostly just a large open area with a trail to follow from mound area to mound area. Only one mound has been completely excavated and rebuilt.
You leave the center over a long bridge....
....over the slough.
This is a sample of a small mound and if you didn't know what you were looking at you would not know it was there! There are 11 mounds at Angel that were shaped like truncated pyramids originally. Plowing and erosion have changed most of them.
This is a reconstructed part of the original wall that circled the town.
Origianlly the walls would have been much like this.
This shows how walls are constructed with mud and sticks.
A partly reconstructed house....very small, made of sticks, grasses, and mud.
This is a reconstructed Round House....probably used as council buildings or community centers. There is evidence of at least 2 on the Angel site.
How the inside would have looked....fire pit in center.
This is the largest mound on the site and originally would have had a large building on it to probably house the most important person in the village......a religious and political leader.
They have built stairs to the top to allow a view of the area. The temple mound was located to the right of that grove of trees. It is the only mound that has been completely excavated. A small staue of a kneeling man made of fluorite was found buried near the top facing east.
This small woods on one side is a partial puzzle. Nothing has ever been found there except evidence of an inner wall.
This sign tells about the following mound which is the only totally untouched mound.
Mound E
This was a large fortified village borderd on one side by the Ohio River, with bottom land for farming. There is evidence of at least 200 structures in this town over the years, but maybe not all at once. At its peak the population may have been 1000.
This mural is in the interpretive center....
....along with pottery and other things that have been found.There are also displays of reconstructed huts and walls and other information.
Outside the field that houses the site is mostly just a large open area with a trail to follow from mound area to mound area. Only one mound has been completely excavated and rebuilt.
You leave the center over a long bridge....
....over the slough.
This is a sample of a small mound and if you didn't know what you were looking at you would not know it was there! There are 11 mounds at Angel that were shaped like truncated pyramids originally. Plowing and erosion have changed most of them.
This is a reconstructed part of the original wall that circled the town.
Origianlly the walls would have been much like this.
This shows how walls are constructed with mud and sticks.
A partly reconstructed house....very small, made of sticks, grasses, and mud.
This is a reconstructed Round House....probably used as council buildings or community centers. There is evidence of at least 2 on the Angel site.
How the inside would have looked....fire pit in center.
This is the largest mound on the site and originally would have had a large building on it to probably house the most important person in the village......a religious and political leader.
They have built stairs to the top to allow a view of the area. The temple mound was located to the right of that grove of trees. It is the only mound that has been completely excavated. A small staue of a kneeling man made of fluorite was found buried near the top facing east.
This small woods on one side is a partial puzzle. Nothing has ever been found there except evidence of an inner wall.
This sign tells about the following mound which is the only totally untouched mound.
Mound EThe town was abandoned around AD 1400, but no one is sure why. Most of the population moved downstream to the Wabash River area. By AD 1650 to 1700 they totally left the area.
I'll have a few more photos in my Skywatch post on Friday.
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24 comments:
Very interesting! Thanks Mary!
Very intersting area, thanks for the tour.
Enjoyed your pictures and reading about the Indian mounds. We have some here in Georgia and love visiting them.
Great tour - and here's something interesting - my husband's grandmother was one of the Angels.
what a fascinating historic place to find out about. Thank you!
Mary: This is a wonderful view of this respect given to the indian people who lived here before. your tour was really interesting.
It is so interesting to see buildings and artifacts from cultures so old. I love the photo with part of the original wall. Just amazing.
What a wonderful tour with wonderful photos. Thanks, Mary!
So interesting. I love local history. There are a few Indian Mounds near us too, but they are on private land, and remain untouched. We live in a part of the country that is very rich in Indian artifacts. When we plow up our gardens we found Chert, and even an arrowhead. As the story goes there was supposed to be Indian camps along the banks of French Creek behind our home, but we at this point don't know where the actual banks of the creek were back then. They seem to be always changing.
Hi Mary,
This was especially interesting to me. I guess the saying is 'great minds think alike.' I posted an Indian Mound on my My World post.
They have always fascinated me. I know I have some Indian roots in my family somewhere so that keeps me researching.
Wonderful info and I'd love visiting there!
A most interesting post.
This is old!! And intriguing. It is the sort of place I like to visit too. Thanks for the fascinating tour.
I wondered if historic sites was the theme of My World this week...I went to Carletta's site earlier and now, yours. Both are interesting...
This is a great post and terrific photos.
I always enjoy Native American topics, especially if with photos.
Great job.
Thanks for the visit,
Troy and martha
Very informative and interesting post. The photo's are fantastic!!
Take care and thanks for sharing your part of the world with us!!
What wonderful pictures and descriptions. Very interesting bit of history from your area.
Thank you for your interesting post on angel mounds. They remind me a little of our aboriginal bora rings..of which I know very little, except that they are around.
Love all the birds, as I scrolled down, especially the scarlet ibis..wow!
Annie
ps Thanks for your visit to MY World.
Very interesting information and thanks for sharing and commenting on my dog.
Awesome! I had no idea there was anything like that in Indiana.
Thank you everyone! I had not been to Angel Mounds for years so I was pretty impressed with how much they have done with the intrepretive center and the site was a nice walk on a great day.
Wren: Oh, yes....all along the Ohio River there are mounds.
Great post, Mary. I'm learning a lot about Indian mounds this week. THANKS!
Fantastic photos and really interesting post! It's amazing how they lived and made do with what nature provided.
I have for many years been interested in the history of the American Indians Mary so this has got to be the most interesting post I have ever seen and I thank you for it.
Wow, thank's for sharing this wonderful post with us. It's very very interesting. And I wish I could visite that area ones. I would love to do that! I love to read about the Indians. It's so interesting!!!!!Beautiful photos too.
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